| A, not-B, error | tendency, noted by Piaget, for 8- to 12-month-old infants to search for a hidden object in a place where they previously found it, rather than in the place where they most recently saw it being hidden.
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| Bayley Scales of Infant Development | standardized test of infants' mental and motor development.
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| behaviorist approach | approach to the study of cognitive development that is concerned with basics mechanics of learning.
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| child-directed speech (CDS) | form of speech often used in talking to babies or toddlers; includes slow, simplified speech, a high-pitched tone, exaggerated vowel sounds, short words and sentences, and much repetition. Also called parentese.
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| circular reactions | Piaget's terms for processes by which an infant learns to reproduce desired occurrences originally discovered by chance.
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| classical conditioning | learning based on associating a stimulus that does not ordinarily elicit a particular response with another stimulus that ordinarily does elicit a response.
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| code mixing | use of elements of two languages, sometimes in the same utterance, by young children in households where both languages are spoken.
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| code switching | process of changing one's speech to match the situation, as in people who are bilingual.
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| cognitive neuroscience approach | approach to the study of cognitive development that links brain processes with cognitive ones.
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| cross-modal transfer | ability to use information gained by one sense to guide another.
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| deferred imitation | Piaget's term for reproduction of an observed behavior after the passage of time by calling up a stored symbol of it.
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| development priming mechanisms | aspects of the home environment that seem necessary for normal cognitive and psychosocial development.
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| Dishabituation | increase in responsiveness after presentation of a new stimulus. Compare habituation.
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| early intervention | systematic process of providing therapeutic and educational services to families to help meet young children's developmental needs.
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| explicit memory | memory that is intentional and conscious.
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| guided participation | participation of an adult in an child's activity in a manner that helps to structure the activity and to bring the child's understanding of it closer to that of the adult.
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| habituation | simply type of learning in which familiarity with a stimulus reduces, slows, or stops a response. Compare dishabituation.
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| Holophrase | single word that conveys a complete thought.
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| Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) | Instrument to measure the influence of the home environment on children's cognitive growth.
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| implicit memory | unconscious recall, generally of habits and skills, sometimes called procedural memory.
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| information-processing approach | approach to the study of cognitive development by observing and analyzing the mental processes involved in perceiving and handling information.
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| intelligent behavior | behavior that is goal-oriented and adaptive to circumstances and conditions of life.
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| invisible imitation | imitation with parts of one's body that one cannot see.
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| IQ (intelligence quotient) tests | psychometric tests that seek to measure intelligence by comparing a test-taker's performance with standardized norms.
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| language | communication system based on words and grammar.
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| language acquisition device (LAD) | In Chomsky's terminology, an inborn mechanism that enables children to infer linguistic rules from the language they hear.
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| linguistic speech | verbal expression designed to convey meaning.
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| literacy | ability to read and write
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| nativisim | theory that human beings have an inborn capacity for language acquistion.
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| object permanence | Piaget's term for the understanding that a person or object still exists when out of sight.
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| operant conditioning | learning based on reinforcement or punishment.
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| Piagetian approach | approach to the study of cognitive development that describes qualititative stages in cognitive functioning.
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| prelinguistic speech | forerunner of linguistic speech; utterance of sounds that are not words. Includes crying, cooing, babbling, and accidental and deliberate imitation of sounds without understanding their meaning.
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| psychometric approach | approach to the study of cognitive development that describes qualitative stages in cognitive functioning.
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| representational ability | Piaget's terms for capacity to mentally represent objects and experiences, largely through the use of symbols.
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| schemes | Piaget's term for organized patterns of behavior used in different situations
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| sensorimotor stage | In Piaget's theory, the first stage in cognitive development, during which infants learn through sensory and motor activity.
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| social-contextual approach | approach to the study of cognitive development focusing on environmental influences, particularly of parents and other caregivers.
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| syntax | rules for forming syntax in a particular language.
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| telegraphic speech | early form of sentence consisting of only a few essential words.
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| violation-of-expectations | research method in which dishabituation to a stimulus that conflicts with previous experience is taken as evidence that an infant recognizes then new stimulus as surprising.
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| visible imitation | imitation with parts of one's body that one can see.
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| visual preference | tendency of infants to spend more time looking at one sight than another.
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| visual recognition memory | ability to distinguish a familiar visual stimulus from an unfamiliar one when shown both at the same time.
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| working memory | short-term storage of information being actively processed.
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